SMOOTH OPERATION OF SOUP KITCHEN IN BUJANOVAC PROVIDED

21. May 2015.

Aleksandar Vulin, Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Policy, and Zoran Stankovic, President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, visited the Red Cross branch office and the soup kitchen in Bujanovac.

The Serbian government and the Ministry of Labor provided this year 11 million dinars in food and money for 1,200 beneficiaries.

Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Policy said that nobody divided soup kitchen beneficiaries by their religion or ethnic background and promised that food would be provided to everyone in the soup kitchen.

“When a child is hungry, he/she doesn’t cry in Serbian, Albanian or Roma. The child cries because he/she is hungry, and it is up to us to ensure that he/she doesn’t cry and that his/her parents are sure they wouldn’t be hungry”, Minister Vulin said.

Secretary of the Red Cross in Bujanovac, Bratislav Lazarevic, said that 1,200 soup kitchen beneficiaries got cooked meals five days a week, while they received uncooked food over the weekend. Food is distributed to socially vulnerable persons at four points, while meals are received by everyone, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation.

President of the Coordination Body Zoran Stankovic said that the municipality of Bujanovac had provided 800, 000 dinars at the beginning of the year, which was enough to make the soup kitchen operate a month, and that the government, thereafter, took over the funding.

“The Government of the Republic of Serbia ensured a smooth operation of the soup kitchen in Bujanovac until the end of the year. I expect that funds will be allocated in the next year’s local budget, so that the soup kitchen, with the government’s assistance, could continue operating”, Mr. Stankovic said.

Stojanca Arsic, Deputy Mayor of Bujanovac, said that the local self-government hadn’t allocated enough money for the operation of the soup kitchen because they didn’t have the request from the Red Cross at the time when the budget for the current year was projected. Nevertheless, he expressed his belief that there would be enough money in the local budget for the operation of the soup kitchen in 2016.

During their visit to the soup kitchen in Bujanovac, Minister Vulin Minister and President Stankovic tried the food that was prepared for soup kitchen beneficiaries.

Source: “Tanjug” News Agency and Coordination Body